DRAGON BALL Z #26 - - Watch & Learn

I already knew that the Saiyan Saga was going to keep going on past the
usual season length, and I’d been quietly wrestling inside over whether I
really wanted to continue this retro revisit up into the 30’s. Well, if a completest
urge wasn’t already making it difficult for me to just walk away, this episode’s
cliffhanger makes it all but impossible.

We’ve had to watch the Saiyans commit some many atrocities, and we’ve
seen Goku literally fight through Heaven and Hell to get back in time to fight.
Now, he’s so close, and he’s blazing after them as fast as he can go, and he’s
got packing such a righteous fire inside him… and I just have to see what
happens next!

So yeah, I’m a total mark, and I’ve just fallen for some of the most
basic tricks of serialized storytelling. I know I’m being worked here, and I
can’t help myself. Shit, even the whole bit about the Saiyans taking a three
hour break, more-or-less just to torture to Z-Fighters with tense anticipation, is
taken straight out of a pro wrestling general manager’s playbook.

Hell, there’s even an extended scene in this episode that might as well
as be called as a ‘pocket’ of filler. If we’re going to really get down to
brass tacks, Nappa’s titular rampage (though spectacularly animated) is unnecessary. He’s a sick, sadistic, tongue-flicking
brute - - we've got it!

However…

If this is all still about building to a glorious and brutal comeuppance
in the climax of the arc, then there’s no matter better way to throw more gas
on the fire than to make you hate this bastard even more than you already do. More
than you even have patience for. And it’s going to make the payback dealt onto
him all the more satisfying.

DBZ is just diabolical about this. I’ve got to see what happens next,
now.

Watch this
episode,“Nappa’s
Rampage"
here and decide for yourself, then read my comments on the previous episode
here.

About the Author

Tom Pinchuk’s a writer and personality with a large number of comics, videos and features like this to his credit. Visit his website - - tompinchuk.com - - and follow his Twitter: @tompinchuk